Off-duty officer saves woman having heart attack

Officer Blaine Brinkmeyer rushed over and performed CPR

By Laura Nichols
KCCI 8

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — A West Des Moines woman's family said she wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for an off-duty police officer.

Terry Martindale was 400 miles out of town when he got a phone call from his wife explaining that her mother collapsed of a heart attack while grocery shopping inside a Wes Des Moines Hy-Vee. Cheryl Burgess, 56, did not have a pulse, and doctors believe she was dead for five minutes.

It happened so fast no one knew exactly what to do. That's when off-duty West Des Moines Police Officer Blaine Brinkmeyer rushed over and performed CPR to revive Burgess before medics arrived.